Edwardian

King Edward was the successor to Queen Victoria and was the opposite of her in many ways. He loved to indulge in food, festivities, gambling and women. He was very relaxed towards the strict morals that his mother Queen Victoria had established because in a large part, he just wanted to have fun. Jewellery in the Edwardian era (1901–1910) saw a shift from the elegance and restraint of the Victorian era to a sense of gratuity and indulgence that reflected King Edward’s personality. Jewels grew larger and gold-plating became very popular, however what is potentially the most striking development was the complexity of Edwardian jewellery. The Industrial Revolution had facilitated the delicate detail in Victorian jewellery, but now that level of detail was being taken to elaborate extremes—of quilt-like patterns and jewel-embedded lacework. Edwardian jewellery cannot be seen as being heavy-handed in the same was as pre-Industrial jewellery; this era produced some of the most technically sophisticated jewellery craftsmanship in history.